Method for removing articles from envelopes

ABSTRACT

Method and apparatus for handling envelopes. An envelope carrier is mounted on the table of a vibrating device. The carrier is formed with a plurality of upwardly and downwardly open compartments, each of which includes a pair of spaced-apart ledges positioned to support lower end corners of the envelopes. A group of stacked envelopes which are pre-opened along one edge are supported in upstanding relationship on the ledges with the carrier causes the side walls of individual envelopes to separate so that any contained articles drop by gravital action downwardly onto the table. In one embodiment the envelopes are supported with their major axes extending along an incline so that the articles move during vibration to the lower corners of the envelopes and pivot downwardly about fulcrums defined by the lower ledges. Means are provided to selectively adjust the distance between opposed ledges in the compartments to accommodate envelopes of variable sizes.

United States Gernetzke atent 1 METHOD FOR REMOVING ARTICLES FROM ENVELOPES [75] lnventor: David W. Gernetzke, Novato. Calif.

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 283,547, Aug. 24 1972.

[52] U.S. Cl. 214/152 [51] 1nt. Cl B65b 21/02 [58] Field of Search 214/152, 304, 305, 308

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1934 Stehler et al 2|4/3()4 l/l968 Rehm 2l4/308 Primary ExaminerRobert J. Spar Assistant Examiner-Lawrence J. Oresky Attorney, Agent, or FirmFlehr, Hohbach, Test, Albritton & Herbert [57] ABSTRACT Method and apparatus for handling envelopes. An envelope carrier is mounted on the table of a vibrating device. The carrier is formed with a plurality of upwardly and downwardly open compartments. each of which includes a pair of spaced-apart ledges positioned to support lower end corners of the envelopes. A group of stacked envelopes which are pro-opened along one edge are supported in upstanding relationship on the ledges with the open edges facing downwardly. Vibration of the table and carrier causes the side walls of individual envelopes to separate so that any contained articles drop by gravital action downwardly onto the table. In one embodiment the envelopes are supported with their major axes extending along an incline so that the articles move during vibration to the lower corners of the envelopes and pivot downwardly about fulcrums defined by the lower ledges. Means are provided to selectively adjust the distance between opposed ledges in the compartments to accommodate envelopes of variable sizes.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEB JAN 2 81975 SHEET 10F 2 .sum 2 or 2 PATEHTED JAN 2 8 I975 1 METHOD FOR REMOVING ARTICLESFROM ENVELOPES This is a division of application Ser. No. 283,547, filed Aug. 24, 1972.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to article handling method and apparatus, and in particular relates to the handling of envelopes and the contents thereof.

Organization such as business establishments or governmental agencies commonly receive a large number of articles such as checks, money, correspondence or other documents in envelopes mailed by customers and other members of the public. For example, banking institutions and credit card companies receive a large daily volume of return envelopes containing checks or money for payment on the customers account. It is present practice in handling these return envelopes to open the envelopes by automatic slitting machines and then manually extract the contents for subsequent handling, after which the envelopes are discarded and destroyed. It has been found that, because of the requirment for the manual step of extracting the contents, an occasional envelope will be inadvertently discarded and destroyed along with its contents. Where many thousands of envelopes are handled in this manner on a daily basis by a single organization, many unprocessed checks may thus be destroyed, with the result that the customer is not properly credited with the amount of the payment.

Present attempts to solve the foregoing problems include that of manually inspecting each of the processed envelopes after the extraction step to insure that all contents have been removed. This procedure involves a high labor content, and is expensive and time consuming. Automatic inspection equipment has also been provided to optically scan the discarded envelopes for detecting any unextracted contents. However, such equipment is relatively expensive to install and operate, requires service and repair by relatively skilled personnel, and requires the additional step of manually extracting any unprocessed contents from the envelopes which have been optically scanned and detected. Therefore there has been recognized a need for a new improved method and apparatus for removing contents from envelopes of the type described.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide improved method and apparatus for handling envelopes to remove contents or articles therefrom.

Another object is to provide apparatus of the above character which is relatively simple and inexpensive to fabricate and operate, and which lends itself to high capacity of operation with a minimum of labor, and with a high degree of accuracy in article extraction.

A further object is to provide a method of the above character by which envelopes are vibrated while being supported in a manner causing the envelopes side walls to separate and facilitate removal of any contained articles by gravital action in one embodiment, or by combined gravital and pivotal action in another embodiment.

The apparatus and method of operation of the invention includes an envelope carrier constructed with a plurality of compartments provided with ledges arranged to support a plurality of envelopes which are stacked in side-by-side relationship with their open edges facing downwardly. The carrier is supported by a vibrating mechanism which, when activated, imparts vibratory movement to the carrier and envelopes for causing any contained articles to drop downwardly for collection and subsequent proccessing. In one embodiment the envelopes are supported along an incline so that the vibratory action causes the articles to move downwardly and pivot about a fulcurm defined by the lower ledge. Means are provided to selectively vary the distance between the ledges to accomodate variable envelope sizes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of apparatus incorporating one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of one envelope carrier compartment of the apparatus of FIG. 1 illustrating the operation thereof,

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of apparatus incorporating another embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view through one envelope carrier compartment of the apparatus of FIG. 4 illustrating the operation thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the drawings FIG. 1 illustrates generally at 10 preferred apparatus for carrying out the method of the invention. Apparatus 10 includes an envelope rack or carrier 11 mounted above a suitable vibrating mechanism, which preferably comprises a vibrating jogger 12.

Vibrating jogger 12 is of conventional construction and includes a flat planar table 13 carried over a housing structure 14. The housing structure encloses suitable means for imparting vibratory motion to table 13 which in turn imparts vibratory motion to envelope carrier 11. This vibrating means preferably includes electromagnet coil structure, not shown, mounted in operating relationship with the jogger table and adapted to impart a vibratory motion having a major vertical directional component. An on-off switch 15 is provided to connect the coils in circuit with an AC electric power source, and suitable means such as the manually operated rheostat control 16 is provided in the circuit to selectively vary the coil voltage and thereby vary the amplitude of vibration to the desired magnitude, as required by the particular envelope load or weight. Preferably the vibrating rate is controlled at 3,600 cycles per minute.

Envelope carrier 11 comprises a frame which includes a pair of upstanding side walls l7, 18 secured to opposite side margins of table 13 by suitable means such as screw fasteners or bolts extending into the pair of base strips 19, 20 mounted along the lower edges of the side walls. A pair of end walls 21, 22 are mounted between the upper margins of the side walls. A plurality, shown as six, of upwardly and downwardly open envelope receiving compartments 23, 24 are formed by means of a central partition 25 extending between end walls 21, 22 and four equally spaced-apart transverse partitions 26-29 mounted between the side walls and central partition. Operator access for loading and unloading the compartments with envelopes is facilitated by forming semi-circular cutouts 31, 32 along the upper edges of the transverse partitions and the two end walls. The lower edges of each of the end walls 21, 22, the transverse partitions 26-29 and the central partition 25 substantially lie in a common plane vertically spaced above jogger table 13 to facilitate operator access for removing articles from the table.

Means for supporting stacks of pre-opened envelopes within each of the compartments is provided and comprises spaced-apart pairs of horizontally extending parallel ledges mounted lowermost in each of the compartments. As best illustrated in FIG. 3 the pair of ledges for the typical compartment 23 comprise a ledge 33 secured to and extending inwardly from the lower inner margin of carrier side wall 17, and an opposite ledge 34 secured to and extending inwardly from the lower inner margine of central partition 25. The horizontal spacing or distance between the ledges of each pair is predetermined in accordance with the size of the particular envelope, and the article contained therein, which is to be handled. As illustrated in FIG. 3 for the typical envelope 35, the two ledges 33, 34 are horizontally spaced-apart a distance less than the length of the envelope as measured along its major axis parallel with the open edge 36 so that opposite end corners of the envelope are supported by the two ledges. Also, this distance between the ledges is less than the horizontal length of the typical article 37 as measured along its major axis so that the article is free to move downwardly, as illustrated in dashed line, through the open edges of the envelope during vibratory operation. With stacks of the envelopes supported upright on the ledges within one or more of the compartments, and with the all envelope open edges facing downwardly, vibratory motion imparted to the carrier causes the opposite planar side walls of each individual envelope 35 to separate or move apart sufficiently to permit any contained articles to drop from the envelope by gravital action. This is best illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 where the article 37 is shown in a position at which it has partially moved downwardly through the open edges of the envelope. Proper operation requires that the number of envelopes carried in a compartment of given size be controlled to preclude compaction and permit separation of the envelope sidewalls. Preferably an average of 430 envelopes are stacked for use in compartment 23 which, as an example, measures 6% inches between the surfaces of partitions 26, 27.

The use and operation of apparatus 10 will be explained in relation to a procedure in which a business organization receives a volume of envelopes containing checks or other articles for payment on account. lt will be assumed that the envelopes are of uniform size dimensioned 6 inches in length along their major axes and 4 inches in width. Apparatus is constructed in accordance with the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3 with each compartment sized 6% inch X 6% inch interior dimensions in plan view, and with each ledge 33, 34 projecting inwardly one-fourth inch from its supporting wall or partition.

The envelopes are initially opened by a suitable envelope slitting machine, their contents manually extracted, and the processed envelopes collected together. To verify that all contents of the envelopes have been properly extracted, the operator forms the envelopes into separate stacks with approximately 430 envelopes in each stack. The stacks are placed into the six compartments of carrier 11 with the envelope open edges facing downwardly and with the end corners supported in each compartment upon the two ledges. Rheostat control dial 16 is then adjusted to the desired position for the most efficient vibrating amplitude for the particular envelope size and weight which is to be handled. For example, the rheostat control can be adjusted to effect a relatively large vibrating amplitude for handling relatively large size, heavy envelope stock. Switch 15 is then operated to energize the vibrating mechanism at a frequency of 3,600 cycles per minute to impart vibratory motion to table 13 and carrier ll. This in turn imparts vibratory motion to the envelopes, causing the side walls of individual envelopes to separate and permit any unextracted articles to drop by gravital action and fall onto the top of table 13. The vibrating operation is continued for a time period sufficient to insure complete article extraction, e.g., a time period on the order of 30 seconds, after which the operator actuates switch 15 to terminate vibratory motion. The operator then collects any articles which have fallen onto the table and removes the emptied stacks of envelopes from the compartments for subsequence disposal. The apparatus may now be reloaded with additional envelope stacks for a repetition of the foregoing steps.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate another embodiment of the invention comprising apparatus 39 adapted to accomodate a range of envelope lengths, and further adapted to support the envelopes during vibration along an inclined axis. Apparatus 39 includes an envelope rack or carrier 41 mounted above a suitable vibrating mechanism, such as the vibrating jogger 42.

Vibrating jogger 42 includes a flat table 43 supported above a housing 44 and lying in a plane inclined with respect to a horizontal plane. Preferably the table 43 lies in a plane defining an angle of substantially 35 from a horizontal plane, and suitable means, not shown, may be provided to move the inclination of the table to a selected angle to cause an optimum jogging action for the particular type and weight of envelope and contained article to be handled. Housing 44 encloses a conventional vibrating mechanism, preferably electromagnet coil means, operatively connected with table 43 and adapted, when energized, to impart vibratory motion to the table and carrier at a preferred frequency of 3,600 cycles per minute and with an amplitude having a major vertical component. The amplitude of vibration is selectively controlled by means of dial 46 controlling a suitable rheostat device in the coil circuitry. An on-off switch 47 is provided for opening and closing a circuit between the coil means and source of AC electric power.

Envelope carrier 41 comprises a frame which defines a pair of side-by-side upwardly and downwardly open compartments 48, 49. The frame is formed by a pair of side Walls 51, 52 mounted to and extending upwardly from opposite margins of table 43. An end wall 53 is mounted between the lower inclined edges of the side walls and extends downwardly where it joins with the lower edge of the table. A central partition 54 is mounted above table 43 mid-way between the two side walls and is joined at its lower inclined edge with end wall 53. Each of the end walls and central partition are formed with semi-circular cut-outs 56 to facilitate operator loading and unloading of the envelope stacks.

Means is provided within the two compartments for supporting the stacks of pre-opened envelopes with their open edges facing downwardly and spaced above the top surface of table 43. This means includes a pair of horizontally extending ledges 57, 58 mounted within each compartment to, and extending inwardly from,

the inner surface of end wall 53. A pair of movable end which are generally parallel with the plane of table 43.

A pair of horizontally extending ledges 63, 64 are mounted to and extend inwardly from the lower margins of the two movable end walls. The opposite ends of each of the ledges 63, 64 project into sliding relationship with respective grooves 61, 62 to maintain the orientation of the movable end walls in a plane generally parallel with the plane of end wall 53. Suitable means such as bracket 66 and releasable screw device 67 are mounted below a corner of each end wall 59, 60 to selectively lock these end walls in the desired position along the grooves for supporting the particular size of envelope to be handled. The spaces above table 43 and below the two end walls 59, 60 are open to facilitate access for removal of any extracted articles.

The use and operation of apparatus 39 will be explained in relation to the handling of the typical envelopes 68 in which checks 69 are mailed to an organization for crediting the customers account. The envelopes are initially opened along their edges 71 by suitable automatic slitting machines and the contents manually extracted. To verify that all contents have been extracted, a plurality of the envelopes are manually assembled into stacks and placed into the compartments with their open edges facing downwardly and with their lower end corners resting upon opposed ledges 57, 63, as illustrated in FIG. 5 for compartment 48. Selector dial 46 is then turned to the setting required for the desired vibratory amplitude, and switch 47 is actuated to energize the vibrating mechanism. Vibration is continued for a suitable time on the order of 30 seconds. The vibratory motion imparted from table 43 to the carrier and envelopes causes the envelope side walls to separate. Because of the inclined orientation of the envelopes during vibration, any contained articles move by gravital action downwardly toward the lowermost corners of the envelopes. The lowermost corner of the article will engage lower ledge 57, which acts as a fulcrum about which the article pivots clockwise, as viewed in FIG. 5, for movement out of the opened edge of the envelope. After the vibrating operation has proceeded for the desired time switch 47 is deactivated, the operator collects and removes any articles which have fallen onto the table 43, and the stacks of envelopes in the two compartments are removed for subsequence disposal. The apparatus may now be reloaded with additional envelope stacks and the foregoing steps repeated. Where the envelopes in the next successive load are ofa different length size, then the operator unclocks either or both of the screw devices 67. moves the end walls 59, 60 to the required distance from end wall 53, and again locks the end walls in place.

While the foregoing embodiments are at present considered to be preferred it will be understood that numerous variations and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such variations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

1 claim:

I. A method for removing articles from within an envelope having opposite planar side walls joined together along common peripheral edge portions thereof, said envelope being open along at least additional common peripheral edge portions of said side walls, including the steps of supporting said envelope in a substantially vertically extending plane with said open edge portions disposed lowermost, and imparting vibratory motion to said envelope to cause its planar side walls to move apart whereby said article moves downwardly from said envelope through said open edge portions.

2. A method as in claim I in which said envelopes are vibrated with at least a vertical component of movement.

3. A method as in claim 1 in which said envelope is supported with its major axis extending in a direction which is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane, and said article is caused to move toward the lowermost end corner of said envelope and to pivot downwardly about a fulcrum adjacent said end corner.

4. A method as in claim 1 in which said envelope is supported by positioning a pair of ledges spaced apart a distance less than the length of the major axis of said envelope and engaging opposite lower end corners of said envelope, and causing said article to move downwardly through said open edge portions and between said ledges. 

1. A method for removing articles from within an envelope having opposite planar side walls joined together along common peripheral edge portions thereof, said envelope being open along at least additional common peripheral edge portions of said side walls, including the steps of supporting said envelope in a substantially vertically extending plane with said open edge portions disposed lowermost, and imparting vibratory motion to said envelope to cause its planar side walls to move apart whereby said article moves downwardly from said envelope through said open edge portions.
 2. A method as in claim 1 in which said envelopes are vibrated with at least a vertical component of movement.
 3. A method as in claim 1 in which said envelope is supported with its major axis extending in a direction which is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane, and said article is caused to move toward the lowermost end corner of said envelope and to pivot downwardly about a fulcrum adjacent said end corner.
 4. A method as in claim 1 in which said envelope is supported by positioning a pair of ledges spaced apart a distance less than the length of the major axis of said envelope and engaging opposite lower end corners of said envelope, and causing said article to move downwardly throUgh said open edge portions and between said ledges. 